Skype calls are one-third of global phone traffic

Skype calls now equivalent to one-third of global phone traffic | Ars Technica: " . . . new data, released Wednesday, shows that “international telephone traffic grew 5 percent in 2012, to 490 billion minutes.” At the same time, “cross-border Skype-to-Skype voice and video traffic grew 44 percent in 2012, to 167 billion minutes. This increase of nearly 51 billion minutes is more than twice that achieved by all international carriers in the world, combined.”. . . “International providers have to rely on steady growth rates to maintain revenues,” Stephan Beckert, an analyst at TeleGeography, told Ars. “What we've seen is a slowdown in growth rates and some is due to economic trends.” But, he underscored, Skype and other similar “over-the-top” apps and services like Viber, Whatsapp, Google Voice, and many others are really putting pressure on traditional telcos. . . . "

Transition From Windows Messenger to Skype Begins April 8 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "The update will start with English speakers and finish with Brazilian Portuguese users on April 30 or later, the company said. It does not affect those in mainland China, where Messenger will continue to be available. Microsoft first announced plans to ditch Messenger in favor of Skype in November. By last month, it reportedly notified customers that the 12-year-old service was officially going away on March 15. But ZDNet said that will only cover a test group for about 1 percent of users. The rest must wait until April."

Microsoft mangles Office 2013 licensing | Office software - InfoWorld: "This week I've faced an avalanche of mail about Office 2013 and, in particular, how it differs from Office 365. The licensing details are a bit hard to swallow, but once you see where Microsoft's headed, they're pretty straightforward. More accurately, they're straightforward if you don't read, or don't believe, Microsoft's own misleading and demonstrably inaccurate posts on the topic. At a very high level, the key difference between Office 365 Home Premium and Office 2013 is rent vs. buy."


more news below

Follow @exprinet